Samurai over Ninja
by Worrin
Summary: Naruto, unhappy with his situation in the village, thinks about his  future and after some researching decides to be a Samurai. Let's find out what will happen with this development.
1. Prologue

**_Disclaimer:_** I don't own Naruto or any of the characters present in said manga, all of that is property of Masashi Kshimoto.

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><p><strong>Samurai over Ninja<strong>

** Prologue:**

The office was silent, only the birds were heard through the open window. Hiruzen Sarutobi was worried, sitting in front of him was a little kid in complete silence, the old man never thought he would use the words naruto and silent in the same sentense, but here was naruto, his spiky blond hair, his cerulean blue eyes and his whiskered like face devoid of any sound. The village leader opened his box of tobacco tha was on the table and filled his pipe, the tension was getting to him so a good smoke was in order. He caught a matchbox, lighted his pipe and took a long breath of tobacco, letting his thoughts wonder for a moment, he really didn't know how to start this conversation, he was expecting the boy's usual rutine, running to the chair, grinning and loudly calling him jiji; but instead the boy just walked silently with a serious expression on his face and sat up calling him Lord Hokage. That were a lot of bad signs and with that in mind, Sarutobi decided to greet the boy and discover the reasons for this unexpected behavior: ¨Hello little Naruto, i'm very glad to see you. But i sense some distress in you, may i ask what's dwelling in your mind?¨. The boy, than until that moment was staring at the floor,lifted his head to look at the old man and with a resigned look answered: ¨Hello Lord Hokage, i... mmm was thinking about what to do for a living when i grow up¨, ¨But i thought you wanted to be a ninja?¨, interrupted Sarutobi with a hint of concern in his voice. ¨Yes, i wanted to be a ninja, but i did some research on ninjas and what was the people expect of them, and there are some _assinanoments_that i will not be able to complete¨. ¨Assignments, Naruto, and what kind of these you feel you can't complete?¨. ¨Assassinations¨, replied the blond in less than a second, taking sarutobi by surprise. The leader of the village hidden in the leaves paused, pondering how the blonde knew about thise missions, since it was something that for obvious reasons kept out of the public knowlegde. But after some consideration decided that it didn't matter and continue with the conversation: ¨I see... Well Naruto, not every ninja must go the same path, you can be a ninja without taking those kind of missions, after all the main role that ninja plays is to protect the village¨. ¨And that's the other problem, Lord Hokage, why should i protect this village?, when the people in it despise me and i don't even know why!. I decided that i want to leave this place and since i'm an orphan i want your permision to enroll the land of fire samurai academy, and see if i can find there a place to call home¨.

After that outburst, the silence came back full force, and Hiruzen Sarutobi was at lost for words, finally what he was fearing was coming to reality, the kid got fed up with the people's hate, and even if Naruto wasn't looking for revenge, something that was showing the strong will he possesed, he wanted to leave the village and get a life away from it. The Yondaime's legacy didn't want anything to do with the village hidden in the leaves. Sarutobi was ashamed of himself, for not being able to make the kid feel at home in his village, but he was double ashamed of the people of his village, for letting ignorance and hurt blind them and use the kid as a scapegoat. He couldn't sacrifice Naruto for the village anymore, the villagers didn't deserve it, the time has come to unveil some truths and do something good for the kid. A letter to the Land of iron was send the same afternoon, a council meeting planned in 3 weeks should be enough to send the kid away and stop any attemp of meddling from Danzo, and to tell the ninja council just who Naruto really was, since the land of iron was a neutral nation, there was not risk in sharing the boy's parents anymore. In a week, the Kyubi's vessel will be travelling to the land of iron to become a samurai, after telling Naruto to come back in 3 days to set his schedule and dismissing him, the boy left with a little smile and after closing the door, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt tears running down his cheeks, he has failed his promise to the best Hokage the village ever had and the embodiment of the will of fire will be lost, a sad evening indeed.

Two days later, the Fire Daymio got a letter from the hokage explaining the situation developed with the kyubi's jinchuriiki, and the safeguard measure Hiruzen was proposing. The leader of the Land of Fire considered for a couple of minutes and decided to accept the hokage's proposition, the moral fiber the boy posssesed was ideal in a soldier with the mission to defend him and his people, in four or five years Uzumaki Naruto will be ready to be part of the Daymio's guard, a little retribution for the heroics of his father.

Meanwhile, a little red toad jumped to the hokage's desk with a scroll from one of his students. Hiruzen took it and read the news: ¨Sensei, i was tracking Orochimaru and discovered that he has joined an organization called Akatsuki. There's not much information on this group, but rumors said that they have at last 6 people, all ninjas of S class rank. I'll try to get more info on them, but i can tell you that an association of those characteristics will bring a lot of trouble for us in the future. Anyway i'll keep you updated¨. The old man sighed, more problems in the making. Taking a scroll to write a reply he adressed the little toad: ¨Gamakichi, thanks for the information, i'll write a reply for Jiraiya, could you please take it to him?¨, ¨Of course, hokage sama¨, said the little toad. In his note, Hiruzen decided to explain to Jiraiya the new future decided for his godson, he knew that his pupil would be really angry with the news, but hopefully with the help of the Daymio, the boy will get a better chance of a normal life.

And 3 days later, Naruto was leaving the village in a trip to the Land of Iron to start his training, escorted by the Daimyo's personal guard and with only 3 people knowing of his whereabouts, the hokage, old man Ichiraku and his daughter Ayame, the ramen stand couple that always treated him good.

Finally, at the council meeting, the old man made his last move: ¨Now that we are all here, i have an announcement to make. The last 8 years i was leading this village with the hope to get back the stability we had before the kyubi incident. I can say now that we are coming near to that point, with that in mind i decided that my time as hokage should come to an end, and before any of you decide to interrupt me, my reasons to step down are as follows:

1.- I retook the mantle only because there's was nobody else ready at that moment, but now with 8 years passed, that's not true.

2.- Not only i'm old, but i found myself dissapointed and ashamed of the people of this village, people that let his ignorance and hurt influence his actions to the point that they consider a poor boy as scapegoat. I will not lead, nor will i put my life in the line for people like that. I would like to suggest to the next hokage to disband the civilian council, these kind of people dont deserve any kind of representation.

I have a final announcement for the ninjas only so if the civilian council has nothing to add i'll ask you to leave, please¨.

The entire council was speechless, nobody expected this development, the civilians were pale, they knew they only had a voice in the village's affairs because Hiruzen promoted it, but now even he was calling to cut that right from them. The ninja side got a solemn look, but some were showing a light smirk and nodding, clearly concurring with Hiruzen's last suggestion. With nothing to add, the civilians left the room and the old man adressed the ninjas in his last action as hokage: ¨Now that we are alone i must inform you two things. First, it's time to clarify the origins of one Naruto Uzumaki. I'm sure most of you deduced that his mother was Kushina, so i'll just tell you that you are right, and his father was none other than Minato Namikaze, our Yondaime Hokage. Second, under orders of the Fire Daymio, and considering the threatment the boy was subjected here, Naruto Uzumaki was recruted for the Daymio's guard and left Konoha 2 weeks ago, here is the letter with the orders. Now i'll sugest Tsunade or Jiraiya as next Hokage, but of course this council can pick another candidates too, that's all¨. And with that bomb, Hiruzen Sarutobi left the room, full of shocked ninjas.

A week later, the civilian side of the council was disbanded and Shimura Danzo was appointed as Godaime Hokage. Under his rule, the village suffered an inside conflict that decimated the ninja forces, the Uchiha clan, except for Mikoto and her sons Itachi and Sasuke (they asked for asylum at the Inuzuka's land), a quarter of the civilian population, and almost half of the rest of the prominent clans were lost in the struggle, all in just half a year. With the dead of Danzo and the elders, the fire Daymio recalled Tsunade and Jiraiya, and appointed Tsunade as Rokudaime Hokage.

Now, 4 years after his departure from Konoha, Naruto Uzumaki is traveling to the capital of the Land of Fire, to join the Daymio's guard, and we will follow him in his adventures as Samurai.

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><p>AN: Welcome everyone to Samurai over Ninja. I always thought that Naruto's personality didn't fit for a ninja, add to that the little we know about the samurai of the Land of Iron, and this idea came to me. Next chapter will be about Naruto's first assignment as Samurai.<p> 


	2. Naruto's First Asignment

**NARUTO'S FIRST ASIGNMENT**

¨Halt!¨, called the guard at the entrance of the capital of the Land of Fire, to a youngster clad in a shining white armor over black clothes, a bull like helmet and a face mask with an air filter. The sound of his footsteps aproaching stopped, and he took some documents from his bag and gave them to the guard. After checking the papers, the guard gave them back and said: ¨Welcome, Uzumaki-san, to our city. You should proceed to the barracks, is the green building to my left. Talk to the recepcionist and she will inform our captain of your arrival. I hope to see you at work soon, you will be the first samurai trained at the Land of Iron in service here. Please, go ahead, I'm sure that you are tired after that long trip¨. ¨Thank you¨, said Naruto and walked to his new destination. At the barracks he presented his papers again with the recepcionist, who told him to wait while she went to get the captain. Ten minutes later a voice got his attention: ¨Uzumaki-san, my name is Hideki Umewara and i'm the captain of the 5th Division of the Daymio's guard. Follow me, i'll show you to your room and then our complex so you can familiarize with it. We will disscuss your first assignment tomorrow, since Daymio-sama will decide it. With a ¨Yes, Sir¨, Naruto started his tour of the complex.

The training ground was at the back of the building, just a clearing with some dummies to train in kenjutsu. The cafeteria was on the left wing of the first floor, next to the kitchen. Three long tables with banks to accomodate about 20 people per table was all the furniture neccesary. At the right wing were the laundry, the meeting room and the armory. The 2nd and 3rd floor were full of rooms for the soldiers, his room was the closer to the stairs at the 3rd floor. All of the rooms got one window, a mattress, a desk and a closet. The 4th floor was used to house the gym, bathroom and showers. Finally, the 5th floor was used for the officers rooms and the game room, where you could play go, shogi or cards.

With the tour complete, the captain dissmissed the young samurai: ¨Now that you know your way aroud the complex i suggest you to take a rest, lights out is at 2100 and the horn sounds at 0500. I'll see you tomorrow morning Uzumaki-san, dissmissed¨,¨Thank you, Sir¨, was Naruto's reply. He decided to follow the captain's suggestion and went back to his room, after all there were only 2 hours until lights out, time enough to polish his armor and allocate his things.

The next morning, captain Umewara was guiding Naruto through the passages of the Daymio's palace to the meeting room, where the Lord of fire and his wife were expecting the youngster arrival. ¨Daymio-sama, Madame Shijimi, I brought Uzumaki-san as you wished¨. Without a sound the young samurai was on his right knee, bowing, the katanas strapped to his left at his waist and in his back the only change in his attire from yesterday, ¨Daymio-sama, Madama Shijimi, it's an honor to meet you¨. ¨Oh my!, what a polite youngster!¨, was Madame Shijimi reaction. ¨Oh ho ho ho, please young Naruto, stand up and lift your helmet, I want to see your face¨. The Daymio said with a smile. ¨Of course, Daymio-sama¨, with that answer Naruto stood up, lifted his helmet and took off his mask leaving the garments on the table. Blond short hair, blue eyes, whisker marks on each cheek and a smile adorning the face of the young samurai, was the image that was show to everyone in that room. The captain was surprised, but hide it well. The Daymio was nodding, clearly pleased with what he saw. Madame Shijimi forgot all protocols and hugged Naruto in record time: ¨Ohh!, look at you!, what a handsome young man you are!. The only sign of disconfort on the poor youngster where his eyes asking for help, much to the amusement of the men. ¨Shijimi, darling, let the poor guy breath. Now Young Naruto, would you care to share with us your experience at the Land of Iron?¨.¨It will be my pleasure Daymio-sama. Well, everything started the day we arrived at the samurai academy, it was early in the morning and we were brought to a large yard...¨

An officer was expecting the samurai applicants, clad in the complete armor: ¨Good, now that you are all here, let's begin with the instructions. The first thing you need to know is that for the next 4 years you are going to bleed, sweat and cry with the training, but i assure you, once your training is over you will be the best of the best in any military complex. Your will to improve will be tested day and night, keep that in mind. Now, your schedule will be as follows:

The morning horn will sound everyday at 0500, you will have 20 minutes to shower, dress and let your mattress ready for your next sleep.

From 0520 to 0540 you will have breakfast at the cafeteria. After breakfast you will have 20 minutes to warm up for your phisical training.

At 0600 you will have phisical training for 2 hours and believe me you will hate it with passion.

At 0800 will be kenjutsu practice. Now there are different styles, so we will test you to find the better suited for you.

At 1000 you will chakra control training, this is the skill that will set you apart for any other samurai trained outside here, you will see why with time. After this training you will have 10 minutes for a shower.

Between 1210 and 1230 you will have lunch.

From 1230 to 1830 you will have 4 asignatures as follows:

Mondays and Thursdays: Language, Matemathics, History and Politics.

Tuesdays and Fridays: Etiquette, Strategy, Laws and Biology.

Wednesdays and Saturdays: Bushido, Survival, First Aid and Economy. Sundays afternoon will be free, but you will have guard duty on Saturdays night.

Between 1830 and 1900 you will have dinner.

Finally, from 1900 to 2100 you will have time for homework, study, polish your armor,etc. At 2100 is lights out and you should sleep. There will be some weeks with training camps, but you will know about them with a week notice.

With that done, ladies please follow sub-captain Mishida to your bay, men follow me to your new home¨.

¨... and that was, basicly, my life these last 4 years, Daymio-sama¨. ¨Interesting. You know young Naruto, I'm considering to establish an elite training program, sending 10 of our best new recruits to the Land of Iron per year to follow in your steps. But first, I need to know what are your capacities, that's why I will send you to my dear cousin Kirito. He leaves in a town North-East from, it's a 3 day trip. Of course i would like to see a small sparring between you and captain Umewara so we can enjoy some of your skills, let's go to the garden¨.

A short walk later and we have captain Umewara and Naruto standing in the garden with their audience waiting for the start of the spar. The captain took out his katana and was waiting at a ready position. Naruto was with his right foot in front and his right hand near the handle of his katana in his left side. Then the Fire Lord gave the order to start, the captain took a fast run intending to cut Naruto in the shoulder, clank!, with speed hard to see for the normal eye Naruto's katana was out crashing with the captain's, and just as fast was back in the scabbard. The captain took a step back, using the force of the clash to rotate his body clockwise bringing his katana in an horizontal cut, but again Naruto's weapon was out intercepting it. Both combatants took 3 steps back, Umewara feinting a vertical cut and finally thrusting his katana, the young samurai sidestepped, hitting the captain in the stomach the next second with his katana's handle. ¨Stop!. Good, good. I'm impressed, young Naruto, what do you think, captain?¨. ¨His Iaijitsu is amazing, Daymio-sama¨. ¨Well then, take this letter, young Naruto, my cousin is expecting you. The next 6 months you will be guarding him and his family. We will talk more when you come back, have a nice trip!¨. Knowing that they were being dismissed, captain Umewara and Naruto bowed and went back to the barracks. ¨Uzumaki-san, i will have a rematch when you come back. Go to the cafeteria and have an early lunch, then you can leave. I'll see you in 6 months¨. ¨Yes, Sir¨.

Three days later, Naruto was outside the Hidemoto household, knocking on the door. A man at his mid thirties and well dressed opened the door: ¨ Yes?, How can i help you?¨. ¨Hidemoto-sama?, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, Daymio-sama sent me to act as your bodyguard for the next 6 months and asked me to deliver this letter to you¨. ¨Ahh!. Yes, yes, I remember now, but please come in, come in, have a seat please, do you want some tea?, Honoka, dear, come here¨. ¨I'm coming, what.. Ohh! We have visitors!. Tea?¨. ¨No, thank you my lady¨. ¨Honoka, love, this is Naruto Uzumaki, he will be our guard for the next 6 months. I'll read this letter later, but please sit down, could you take off your mask?¨. ¨Of course and thank you Hidemoto-sama¨. ¨No, please, call me Kirito-san, we are not near enough to sucesion to be so polite¨. With the greetings over they get to know each other a little: ¨So, Naruto-kun, you look so young, how old are you?¨, ¨I'm twelve years old, Honoka-san¨, ¨Where are you from?¨, ¨From Konoha, Kirito-san¨, ¨What about your parents?¨, ¨I'm an orphan, Honoka-san¨, ¨Ohh, I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, I...¨, ¨Don't worry, Honoka-san, I never get to meet them, but I know that both were ninja and died protecting the village¨, ¨I see, but why...¨.

¨Mom, dad, I'm home!¨, interrupted a kid running to the living room. Walking behind him was a girl with his mother black hair and brown eyes, you may say that she was beautiful if not for the scowl adorning her face. ¨Why do you have to be so loud, peanut¨, she said to the little boy, both sharing similar factions, but his hair was brown like his father. ¨Don't call me that you...¨, ¨Stop right there, both of you, sit down i want you to meet Naruto-kun¨. ¨Yes mom!¨, was the chorus reply. ¨Naruto-kun, these are my son Kotaru and my daughter Himari, kids this is Naruto Uzumaki, he will be staying with us for the next semester¨. ¨Coool!, where did you get that armor?, can i check the helmet?, is that a katana?, how...¨. ¨Stop, Kotaru, you are not letting him answer¨. ¨Sorry, mom¨. ¨So, is he the bodyguard you talk about?, he doesn't look that imposing, may i go to clean myself now?¨. ¨Himari!, yes go and take your brother with you, Naruto-kun, I'm sorry my kids are not bad is just...¨. ¨Please, Honoka-san, don't worry, I don't mind at all¨. ¨Ok, why don't we clean and prepare for dinner too?, I'll show Naruto-kun to his room, while you prepare dinner, dear¨.

Dinner was interesting, with the children fighting over the juice, salt, etc. ¨So, Naruto nii-chan, how..¨, snorting, Himari interrupted his brother: ¨Nii-chan!, aren't you going a little too fast, peanut¨, ¨Hey!, at least his knows how to smile and isn't always tormenting me, you only know how to scowl¨. Naruto coughed trying to disguise his snort of amusement, unfortunaly for the kids, Honoka didn't find it funny and let them know it: ¨Stop it, right now!, we are at dinner, could you please try to eat like civilized people?¨. With the meal over, the kids went to bed, and Naruto excused himself, to prepare for his first day at work.

The next morning, the young samurai was at the backyard training, while the rest of the house was blissfully sleeping. At 7:00, Honoka was in the kitchen making breakfast, when the kids made their appearance: ¨Morning, mom!¨, said Kotaru, while his yawning sister took a seat at the table. ¨Good Morning, to you too. Kotaru, could you please tell Naruto-kun that breakfast is ready?, he is outside at the back¨. ¨Sure, mom¨. The boy ran out and was about to shout to Naruto, when he saw the youngster finishing his kata. Naruto was standing with leaves surrounding him, his katana in the scabbard and breathing slowly. Next second, the katana was out and every single leaf was cut in two forming a circular air current around him. ¨Wow!¨, the boy was amazed, ¨Ohh yes, mom said that breakfast is ready, Naruto nii-chan!¨. ¨Thank you Kotaru-kun, I'll clean here first and then I'll join you¨. Nodding, the kid went back inside.

Ten minutes later, Naruto found the entire family enjoying breakfast, he greeted everyone and sat down to eat. ¨Kotaru, go get ready or you will be late for school, you too Himari, don't look at me with that face, young lady, you need to walk your brother to school¨, said the Hidemoto matriarch. ¨Honoka-san, if you wish, i could walk Kotaru-kun to school¨. Nodding both parents agreed, with Kirito adding: ¨After that, you should walk Himari too¨, ¨Of course, Kirito-sa...¨, ¨What!, but I'm not a little girl anymore¨. ¨You could have fooled me, Himari¨. ¨Mom!¨. The morning walks with Kotaru were fun, with the kid asking questions about samurai and kenjutsu. However, the walks with Himari were silent, with the girl trying to outrun the youngster. After that, Naruto guarded the house and when school was over, he went to pick up the kids, with the same routines. In the afternoons, the young samurai played with the 6 years old boy or went out to get aquainted with the village. Sadly his interactions with the 12 years old girl were getting colder, and they will get worse before they get better.

The first 3 weeks passed at the same pace until one afternoon, Hitomi Kezai, Himari's best friend, decide to follow his clearly frustrated friend after school. After shadowing her for a couple of blocks, he came into view with an armored young man, apparently waiting for Himari, she decided to wait and see the exchange: ¨Lady Himari, your mother is waiting with the lunch ready¨, ¨Mhmm¨, was all the answer the youngster got. With the situation more or less clear, Hitomi decided that it was time to let them know that she was there too: ¨So that's why you are running out off school right after we finish, care to introduce me your intended dear friend?¨, of course, Hitomi's deduction was half guessing and half mischievous. A snort from the young man and a jump of surprise was the first answer she got, then Himari exploded: ¨He is not my intended, why were you following me?, and you, Metal Brain, what's so funny huh?¨. Naruto thought that it was time to be more natural: ¨Ohh well, Lady Scowl, the simple idea that your parents will find a poor soul to marry you it's simple hilarious, just two hours with you, an any intended will run even if Daymio-sama assured him that he will be the next Daymio¨. ¨Why you little piece of metal brained waste of air!. ¨Ok, ok stop please, as funny as this is, you didn't answer my question, Himari dear¨, Hitomi interrupted, clearly waiting for her friend to explain the situation. With her anger a little abated, Himari decided to adress her friend: ¨Right, well, as you can see, this dullahan here is our family's bodyguard, sent here by my father's cousin, you know who he is, I'll rather not voice it because I don't want to made a big deal about it, even if half the town already knows it. So I left school as soon as I can because it's embarrasing to have him pick me up like I'm a little girl¨. ¨Wow!, that really was a long rant, clearly you need it to ge it out of you, huh?, so mister bodyguard, what is your name?, you know what, dear Himari?, I didn't eat your mother's lunch in a long time, so congratulations, I'm joining you this afternoon!¨, ¨His name is Naruto Uzumaki, and just let's go¨. And with that, the teens resumed their walk to the Hidemoto household.

Twenty minutes later, everybody was ready to eat, with Naruto taking a seat without his helmet and mask. Hitomi who was ready to start with his dish, stared open mouthed for some seconds before she blurted out: ¨Wow!, why were you hiding that face in that horrible mask?, that's a crime against my rights to ogle good looking guys!¨, a giggle from Honoka, an escandalized, ¨Hitomi!¨, from Himari, a laugh from Kotaru and a blushing face from Naruto, was the reaction at the table. After that, lunch was a funny affair, with Hitomi teasing and flirting with Naruto shamelessly. The youngster was saved from further abuse by Kotaru, who took him outside.

The days kept coming and going in the same routine, until one day, halfway to Naruto's assignment, there was a party at Himari's school. The girl wanted to go, but her parents thought that it was to early to let her start going out at night. This, of course, brought up a nasty discussion that ended with the girl running out of the house, slamming the door behind her. Himari ran without a destination in mind, and ended up running outside of the village, stoping in the near forest to cry at the near forest. Suddenly, she heard voices from drunk men, nearing her spot. She panicked and wasn't fast enough to leave and was caught by a group of five men, all dressed with rugs and sporting long beards. They surrounded her, leaving no escape and one of them took the role of spokeman: ¨Well, well, well, what do we have here?, are you lost lady?, come with us, I'm sure we can find a place for you to stay, while we get a small fee for our time, right guys?¨, laughing was the answer from the rest of the men. The one that was behind her was trying to reach her and just as he was about to grab her, fell on the grass, unconcious. An armored young man was replacing him, the sound of his boots alerting everybody of his appearance. Walking slowly, he stood in front of Himari telling her: ¨Stay behind me and follow my orders, you will be fine, I promise you that they won't touch you and I always keep my promises¨. The girl was speechless, she only nodded and stayed where she was. The bandits weren't happy and the clearly leader voiced their disconfort: ¨So we have a ¨Hero¨, now little kid why don't you leave before we send your body in pieces to your parents!. You know what, too late!, you already pissed me off knocking my man out like that, get him!¨. With a roar all the bandits rushed to Naruto, weilding knives ready to cut him, while the youngster shouted: ¨Himari get down and stay there, this will take just a minute¨. Two men ran at him trying to stab him, Naruto sidestepped and when they tried to stop so they didn't end stabbing themselves, The youngster caught both of their heads and violently crushed them. The next man lifted his arm trying to bring his knife from up to down to make a vertical cut at the neck, but Naruto caught his arm and broke it with a well placed kick, then he brought him down and finished with a kick to the head. The leader, enraged by this display, took his axe and charged without a second thought, trying to cut the young samurai in half, but Naruto draw his katana hitting him with the handle in the mouth, broking a couple of teeth and with a fast spin around the bearded man, he connected with his elbow at the bandit's neck. With all the men down, Naruto turned to Himari and asked in a concerned voice: ¨Are you alright?¨, The girl stood up, trembling, and ran to hug him, once in his embrace, she started to cry loud. They stayed some time like that, until she calmed enough to walk back home. ¨I'm sure you are still upset beause you weren't able to go to that party, but if you keep doing tantrums like the one of tonight, you are only giving them more reasons against you. You have to prove them that you have matured enough, they love you and worry about you, but if you show them that you can deal with your problems in a matured way, they will give you more space and understand that you are growing up. I know that you don't like much, but at least think about it...¨, ¨Thank you, Naruto-kun, I..., why don't we start again, hi my name is Himari, nice to meet you¨, said the girl extending her hand. Naruto shook it and said: ¨Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you too¨.

The last half of the six months was over in a blink of an eye, with the young samurai becoming an unofficial member of the Hidemoto family. He left with a promise to come back to visit and great memories to remember. While the teary eyed kids say goodbye, their parents were planning a surprise, but that's is a history for another time. Naruto was in his way back to the Daymio's palace where he will learn about the happenings of his home village.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>First chapter complete. We will know what happened at konoha with Naruto not there in the next chapter. Thank you for reading and I hope to get some reviews, just to know how are you viewing this history so far.


	3. The Red History of Konoha

**THE RED HISTORY OF KONOHA**

It was a warm day in the capital of the Land of Fire. The Daymio's palace was bustling with the everyday sounds. In the conference room, we found the Daymio and Naruto having a meeting, 3 days after he arrived from the Hidemoto household. The leader of the Land of Fire congratulated him for his work and was informing the young samurai of his next assignment: ¨Young Naruto, you will be accompanying me to the next Chunin exams, that will be host at Konoha. We will be departing next week, and will stay for 3 days. You will be part of my escort with captain Umewara in charge. Now I promised you to get you up to date with the happenings at Konoha. It's a long tale, so i suggest you get confortable, there's a lot of interesting things you need to know or you will not understand the actual situation of the village. I guess the best way to start will be with the Sandaime's resign, that happened 2 weeks after your departure. With all the work that he did for the village, i considered that he deserved to go back to his retiretment, so the council and I, named Danzo Himura as Godaime Hokage. History tells that this was the shortest rule of a Hokage in Konoha. But why this happened?. Some say it was because of Danzo's hard policies, others that the civilians felt discarded after the disband of their half of the council and those reasons did weighed in the conflict, but the heart of it was the Uchiha clan...¨

Men of black hair and eyes, with a very distintic fan on their backs were reunited in a big room at their compound. The Uchiha clan leader, Fugaku, was adressing his family: ¨Brothers and sisters, our clan has supported Konoha since it's foundation, but no matter how much blood had we spilled for them, they have never trusted us, and the Kyubi incident 8 years ago only fomented their distrust. With Sarutobi stepping down, we were hoping that for once we will receive the acknowledgement we deserve. But it wasn't to be. I'm afraid that the time to talk is over, now we must take things in our hands and show them that we won't tolerate this anymore. We will take this village's leadership and bring it and our clan to their real place in the world¨. The speech finished and shouts and cheers erupted from the audience. With the meeting over, every family went back to their homes, at Fugaku's house, however, his wife was very conflicted, and a heated argument started: ¨Fugaku, did you really thought this through?, we are talking of war here, more blood and tears spilled, and all for a position that the only one that ended his rule alive untill now was Hiruzen?. We are respected as one of the strongest clan in the village, and you want to endanger that and your children safety for the title of Hokage?¨. ¨Mikoto, stop. This was already decided for the entire clan, there's no turning back. You will see that tomorrow things will be fine and we will take our deserved place in the village¨. ¨I see, well then, I will not let Sasuke die for your ambitions, nor I'll join you in battle, I'll take care of him while you play your power games. Itachi is legally an adult, so if he wants to join you is his choice, I'm leaving now and take Sasuke with me¨. ¨No!. You are my wife and should support me. I will not let you go, this is a clan matter, you are part of the clan and should lend us your power!. Shisui, please restraint her¨. A young man appeared in the room from the shadows, ready to subdue Mikoto, but a Kunai stopped him in his track. Another young man with long hair, made his presence know: ¨Stop right there, Shisui. You may be my best friend, but i will not hesitate to kill you if you attempt to hurt my mother. And you father, I don't know what to think about you right now. You must know that mother is strong enough to face Shisui, so you were obviously trying to distract her while you finish her. I'm with mother in this, you are deluded by your pride just as the rest of the clan. I'm leaving with her, if you want to start the bloodshed now, so be it, but that will alert the village and your surprise advantage will be lost¨. ¨Itachi!, so you are betraying me too!. Fine go away!, I'll deal with you when we get what we deserve!¨. At this moment, explosions and firelights appeared in the compound, announcing the start of the armed conflict. Fugaku and Shisui went outside to discover what was happening while Mikoto and Itachi went to get Sasuke and left in direction to the Inuzuka's.

At the center of the compound was a root agent dead, the explosion and fire caused by explosives notes around him, where two Uchihas were laying in a pool of their blood. Blinded by their rage, the clan armed themselves and started attacking the village without a care, but with the signal given, the rest of the ninja were alerted and the conflict escalated. Sadly most of the destruction was on civilian buildings, bringing panic and disorientation to them. Fortunaly, Danzo inmediatly ordered some of the ninja to guide the civilians to the Hokage monument, but it wasn't fast enough and about a quarter of them were lost. The Uchiha kept forcing their way to the Hokage tower, where they fought the ninja council that was expecting for them. Fugaku, with the council on sight, thought that the victory was theirs, but when they were about to attack, most of the ninja clans appeared to defend their leaders. And then the massacre started. The sharingan was a powerful tool and it showed it's great potencial, helping the Uchiha to fight the superior numbers of the rest of the clans. But as more time passed, physical and chakra exhaustation took hold of the proud clan. It was a bath of blood, rivers of the precious liquid ran unrestricted by the streets and bodies decorated the scene. Danzo, confident in his victory left his guard down. This was capitalized by Fugaku and Shisui, who took down Danzo and the elders, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. After that they were taken down by the rest of the council. With their leader dead, the Uchiha clan decide to fight till dead, so the about 20 men left, went all out and died killing a lot of the rest of the ninjas. A very sad day followed that bloody night, with the entire village mourning for lost family. Hiruzen Sarutobi lost one of his sons and his son's wife, leaving in his care his little 4 years old grandson Konohamaru. The village entered a state of alert and the council reunited as soon as possible. They decide to recall Jiraiya and Tsunade, the 2 sannin left that were affiliated to the village. It took 3 months to bring them back, and 2 months more to convince Tsunade to take the mantle of Hokage, with a promise to let her start a medic program to include one of those specialized ninja per team. Jiraiya went back to manage the spy network, declining his nomination for Hokage, but the council knew the main reason for this was his godson. Danzo's rule ended after just 6 months in charge, his root disbanded and treated to be reassigned to the regular ninja roster and his face never made it to the monument. Konoha lost a lot of power and prestige and went through 2 very hard years of reconstruction and economic issues. The village recovered his prestige as one of the five more powerful ninja villages thanks to the work of his jounins, specially a young Itachi who worked non stop to provide for what was left of his family and to bring back the trust of the village in the Uchiha name.

¨... and that, young Naruto, is the history of Konoha this past 4 years¨. ¨Daymio-sama, you wouldn't know about a civilian family that had a ramen stand...¨, ¨Ahh!, Teuchi and Ayame!. Yes, Hiruzen told me you will ask about them. Don't worry, young Naruto, they are fine and still have the stand, I'm sure they will be happy to see you when we stay in Konoha¨. With a sigh of relief, the young samurai nodded, clearly happy with the news. After that the meeting was over and Naruto went back to the barracks. He spent the week there, training and sparring with captain Umewara and the 4 men that were part of the Daymio's escort to Konoha.

The trip to Konoha was uneventful and longed 3 days, arriving at the village the day before the start of the chunin exams final stage. They made their way to the Hokage tower, where the Daymio met with Tsunade to exchange pleasentries: ¨Hello Tsunade, you look as radiant as ever, I hope everything is fine¨, ¨Daymio-sama, is always nice to meet you, everything is going smoothly, I'm sure you will enjoy tomorrow's show¨, ¨Good, good. Now i want to introduce you captain Umewara, leader of my guard¨, said the Daymio moving his right arm, ¨Nice to meet you, Umewara-san¨, said the Hokage with a nod of acknoledgement while the captain bowed. ¨And to my left, someone I think you should meet, after all, he is from Konoha. Naruto Uzumaki, trained samurai in the land of Iron¨. Tsunade look at the youngster and frowned, it was very hard to meet someone with his mask on after all: ¨Would you mind to take off your mask?¨. Bowing, the young samurai took his mask off after receiving a nod from the Daymio. And then, the Rokudaime Hokage, admired the youngster, who of course started to resemble his father, but surprisingly, he resembled more her lost little brother, and that made her pause. After recovering she said: ¨Welcome back to Konoha, Uzumaki-san¨, ¨Thank you, Hokage-sama¨, was Naruto's reply. After that the guard was dismissed, since both leaders will share lunch and will be guarded by the ANBU. The young samurai went to take a look around the village, noting the changes brought by the new buildings. In time he arrived at the comercial distrit and went directly to his beloved ramen stand. When he entered, the people got startled, after all it was not common to see a full armored samurai in Konoha. The young woman attending aproached him and say: ¨Welcome to Ichiraku ramen, what would you like to have?¨. Naruto mentally slapped himself and took off his mask. His face uncovered attracted some patrons attention and a gasp was the reaction he got from the young woman. ¨I think a miso ramen will be good to start, Ayame-chan¨, said the youngster with a big smile. ¨Dad, come here! You have to see who is here!, Ohh my god, Naruto is that really you?¨, forgetting any manners the young lady jumped over the counter and embraced the youngster after his nod. That was the scene that Teuchi encountered when he appeared from the back, where the kitchen was situated. The old man rounded the counter and waited to get his chance to hug the youngster. ¨Ho ho ho, I'm so glad to see you again, Naruto!, please take a seat, the first bowl is on the house, but you have to tell us everything about you these past four years young man!. And with that they started a conversation that lasted a couple of hours, with Naruto telling them about his training and his work for the Daymio, including of course, his work with the Hidemoto family. Ayame teased him about Himari and Hitomi, while a blushing Naruto was sputtering incoherencies. It was a happy reunion that ended with the young samurai promising to come back the next to day to keep getting reacquainted.

Leaving the stand, the youngster redirected his steps to the next destination, the Sarutobi Household, there he was met at the door by an eight years old boy wearing an absurdly long scarf, before the kid could talk an old man appeared behind him, making Naruto smile with a ¨Jiji!¨, his mask and his helmet were on his hand in a blink of an eye. Hiruzen was gladly surprised to see the young Uzumaki after 4 years and hugged him with a big smile, leaving his puzzled grandson behind. ¨You have grown a lot, Naruto, please come in, I want to know how life has been with you these years, this is my grandson, Konohamaru. Konohamaru, this young man is Naruto Uzumaki¨. The 3 went inside and made small talk: ¨So you are from Konoha. Why are you a samurai?, ninjas are better!¨, said the boy, making Naruto snort. ¨Hey!, it's true, ninja have awesome jutsu!¨. Looking at the Sandaime, Naruto raised an eyebrow, a sign that Hiruzen understood and nodded, with the old man's permission, the young samurai said: ¨Yes Ninja have jutsu, but the samurai of the Land of Iron can manipulate chakra too, and we can do amazing things with it. You can ask your grandad here, he can tell you why the Land of Iron is so respected within the ninja villages¨. Then, Hiruzen teached his grandson about the Land of Iron, where Naruto helped talking about his training, leaving a very impressed Konohamaru. And so the young samurai spent some hours with the Sandaime and his grandson before he went back to his hotel room to sleep and get ready to guard the Daymio the next day.

The next morning, the village was alive with the sounds of the people chatting and commenting about the chunin exam. While the Daymio and his escort were traveling through the stadium, bets were beeing placed and many feudal lords were checking the program. Once the escort had arrrived to the Hokage balcony, the Daymio took a seat at Tsunade's right, with captain Umewara and Naruto standing behind, while the other 4 members of the escort were guarding the access to the balcony. To Tsunade's left was seated the Kazekage, leader of the Land of Wind ninja village Suna, wearing the ceremonial robes and a face mask that only showed his eyes. Those eye widened once they caught sight of the Fire Lord, he clearly wasn't expecting the Daymio to show up. With the figureheads situated at their respective places and after exchanging pleasentries, the Hokage stood up to adress the public present at the stadium: ¨Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Konoha to the final stage of this year chunin exams. 8 genins from diverse villages will be showing their skills to accomplish their goal of becoming a chunin. We will start with the program shortly, so I hope everybody enjoy the coming show¨. Cheers erupted from every corner of the stadium, while in the arena two boys were standing waiting for the signal to begin the combat. ¨Daymio-sama these 2 young genin are both from Konoha, to your right we have Neji Hyuga¨, said Tsunade pointing to a long haired boy, clad in white robes, his face impassive and his white pupilless eyes staring at his opponent, ¨and to your left, Shikamaru Nara¨, added Tsunade pointing a boy who's most distintive characterictics where his pineapple like hairstyle and his bored face. Before Tsunade could tell more about them, the Hyuga decided to adress his opponent: ¨Fate has decreed me as the winner of this match, i suggest you forfeit and be spared of the humilliation otherwise...¨, ¨Tch, save your speech for someone that is willing to hear it, I'm already bored as it is¨, interrupted the Nara, picking his ear with his index finger. While Tsunade was facepalming herself, the Daymio laughed and asked the young samurai: ¨So, young Naruto, what do you think of this match?¨, ¨The Hyuga must be one of the so called prodigies, judging by his speech, I would say that he never was defeated and cosidered himself better than the rest of the normal human beings, maybe he will win this match, but his arrogance will be his donwfall pretty soon. The nara looks bored, but his eyes shows a cunning and intellect always at work, I think this match will bring us a surprise¨, answered Naruto, receiving a nod from the Daymio and a clearly impressed look from Tsunade.

In the arena, the fight started with the Hyuga trying to catch the Nara who was running around trying to keep the ditance between them. Sometimes the Hyuga appeared to reach his opponent, but everytime he tryied to hit him, the Nara replaced himself with a log. And then, the bored boy stay put, leaving a chance for the hyuga to hit him, the white eyed boy wasted no time and launched his assault: ¨You are on my field of divination!¨, with fast movements the Hyuga approached, but just when he was about to attack he was stopped in his track, imitating the posture of his opponent. ¨Shadow imitation success!¨, said the Nara, who then walked backwards, guiding his opponent to a circle formed with the logs he used to escape before, logs that had an explosive note attached to them. ¨You know, this is where i suppose to give you the chance to forfeit and escape uninjured from this situation, but since you believe so much in fate, let's wait and see what fate has in mind for you, Kai!¨ A big explosion followed those words, engulfing the long haired boy. Seconds later we found the Hyuga lying on the floor with burns and cuts done by some debris. He was alive but unable to continue the fight. ¨Winner, Shikamaru Nara¨, declared the judge, while the cheers and applause started around the stadium. While the Hyuga was carried to the infirmary, the Nara walked back to where the other contestants were waiting with his hands in his pockets and looking at the clouds in the sky.

The second match was between Shino Aburame from Konoha and Kankuro from Suna. It was a long match, where the bug user won using one of his female bugs to detect the real position of the puppeteer, and litterally swarm him with his bugs to drain Kankuro of his chakra.

The next match had Temari from Suna against Toshio from Taki. The wind misstress had a hard time dealing with the genjutsu specialist, she was constantly disoriented by his opponent genjutsu and ended up wasting a lot of chakra to deal with the ilussions. Finally Toshio made a mistake, he didn't masked his presence while trying to get behind her back and it cost him, because Temari was pretending to be under a genjutsu and when his opponent aproached her, she used her fan to hit him in the stomach and then opened it to sent him flying to the stadium wall.

The last match of the first round was between Sasuke Uchiha from Konoha and Gaara from Suna. The sand wielding ninja made tendrils to try to catch his opponent, but the Uchiha used his speed to evade every try. Sand shuriken started to fly trying to cut the black haired boy, but again he evaded and keep moving. Finally, Sasuke decide to go on the offensive, but everytime he was going to hit his opponent, the red haired boy used a sand wall to stop the attacks. The match continued at the same pace, until Sasuke decide to use a genjutsu to distract his opponent to get a chance to hit him. Activating his Sharingan he made visual contact with his opponent's eyes and used a hell viewing genjutsu, that he learned from his brother. The move worked, but the result was unexpected and the disturbed teal eyed boy from Suna started to emit a very potent and malevolent chakra. This put on alert his teammates, who happened to be his brother and sister, Kankuro and Temari, and his sensei, Baki, who went inmediatly to the judge to explain that the boy was losing his control over his bijü and it was neccesary to stop the match and bring Gaara out the stadium to try to calm him. He was about to go to the Kazekage to ask him to stop Gaara when suddenly the stadium went silent. Looking around he saw the public sleeping, under the effect of a genjutsu. Turning around he ordered his pupils to take Gaara out of the village and then went to try to find the Kazekage, when several ninjas with a musical note on their headbands started to appear around the stadium.

Meanwhile, at the Hokage balcony, Naruto detected a fluctuation in chakra, a clear sign of a genjutsu, he disrupted his chakra flow momentarily and assessed the situation. The Daymio and the rest of the guard were sleeping while the Kazekage took Tsunade as hostage and jumped to the room of a nearby building, a chakra barrier appearing after the kages reached their destination, isolating them. The young samurai acted fast and using his chakra woke up the sleeping people at the balcony. With the Daymio awake and aware of the situation after an explanation from Naruto, his guard started to take him to safety, but the Fire Lord stopped them and asked Naruto: ¨Young Naruto, is there a way to disrupt that barrier?¨, the young samurai looked at the situation and discovered four people positioned at every corner of the barrier. He thought that distracting one of them, the barrier will collapse and said: ¨I got and idea, I'll try it but you need to get to safety Daymio-sama¨, ¨Ok, young Naruto, I'm counting on you¨. With that the rest of the guard moved the Daymio to safety, leaving the youngster behind

A loud sound from a horn signaled the state of emergency around the village, with the genins ordered to guide the civilian population to the safe place at the Hokage mountain, while the chunnins and jounins started to fight their sound counterparts. Sasuke ignored his orders and went after the Suna team, this made his sensei Kakashi, to order the Uchiha's teammates to follow him. Sakura Haruno a pink haired girl infatuated with the Uchiha, and Sai a palid boy that likes to draw and use his artistic talent as a tool to fight, nodded and went after Sasuke.

And thus, the invasion of Konoha started, bringing another red mark to the ninja village. Giants serpents appeared around the wall of the village trying to bring them down, supported by large platoons of sound ninja. Some platoons of Suna ninja were visible clearly helping the sound ninja, this made Baki raise both his eyebros in surprise. Taking a look at where the kage where facing each other, he didn't find the Kazekage, but a man with long hair and yellow snake like eyes. Understanding the situation he went to the nearest Suna platoon and explained his deduction: ¨The Kazekage is beeing impersonated by Orochimaru, we need to confirm our leader situation, stop fighting and start searching¨. With that 2 platoons went back to search in the road between Suna and Konoha, while the rest searched for their leader around Konoha, leaving the fight.

Back with the young samurai, we find him positioning himself behind one of the ninjas sustaining the barrier, a fat man with orange hair. He stood on the roof looking around to detect any attack that could reach him, seeing none, he prepared himself, his right foot in front, his hand reaching his scabbard ready to make a quick draw. Breathing deeply and concentrating, he made his move.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Second chapter done. Next time in Samurai over Ninja, we get the invasion conclusion.


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